DOCS.
447,
448 JANUARY
1918 455
I
do not want to
deny
that this
would have been most
preferable
to
me.
If
it
is
no
longer
obtainable
now,
however,
I
am
also
prepared
to switch
with
Born,[5]
provided
the
Ministry
does
not reduce his
salary
below
the
offer
of
August
1914.[6]
Immediate
election to
the
Academy
would also be
a
nice
recompense,
of
course,
although not
in
the
pecuniary
sense.[7]
This
is
all
that
I
can
think
of in
answer now.
If Planck and
you
still have
a
question
about
this,
though, please
write
me.
In
the
next
few
days
I
shall
probably
not be reachable
by mail,
however;
from
Feb.
2
until
Feb.
10 I
am
going
to be
prowling
around
in
the
lines of communication
area
behind
the
western
front. From Feb.
10
until
Feb.
20 I
am
going
to be
on
the
Feldberg
in
the
Black
Forest
(Feldbergerhof). Thereafter,
here
again.
Incidentally,
to
broach
another
entirely
different
subject,
I
would
like
to ask
you
if
you
know of
any more
suitable
place,
that
is
currently
accessible to
us on
the Earth’s
surface,
than
Berlin for the treatment of
an ailing
stomach?[8]
I do not
want
to meddle in
your
doctors’
business,
but
I
would
think that
now
in wartime
about
any
other
place
is
better for this
purpose.
You
must
not
consider
this
comment
presumptuous; we physicists
all
have
a
shared interest in
your
health.
With
cordial
regards
to Planck and
you, yours,
M.
von
Laue.
448. To Max Planck
[Berlin,
after
30 January
1918][1]
Dear
Colleague,
Now
the
case
is
clearly
before
us.
Laue thus had
a
prospect
unknown
to
us
until
now.[2] His
expression
of
willingness
is
unambiguous;
I
am
in the dark
about
his
motives, though,
likewise
about the
conversation with
Sommerfeld[3]
regarding
the
position.
If the
roguish
biblical
passage
“Man’s
will is
his
paradise”
is not
deceptive,
heaven
on
Earth
may
indeed fall
to
his share.
With
cordial
regards, yours,
Einstein.